Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Occidental Petroleum Corporation $OXY

Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 500,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $24,285,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Portus Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of OXY opened at $59.21 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.41. Occidental Petroleum Corporation has a 1 year low of $38.80 and a 1 year high of $67.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.19 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.15.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. Analysts forecast that Occidental Petroleum Corporation will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from Occidental Petroleum’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. Occidental Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Occidental Petroleum

In related news, CEO Richard A. Jackson acquired 4,770 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $52.38 per share, for a total transaction of $249,852.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 444,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,261,853.24. The trade was a 1.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on OXY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Capital One Financial increased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.83.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) is an international energy company engaged primarily in the exploration, production and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company conducts upstream activities to discover and produce hydrocarbons and operates complementary midstream and marketing functions to transport and sell its production. Occidental also owns a chemicals business that manufactures and sells industrial chemicals and related products for a range of end markets.

Occidental’s operations are concentrated in the United States, with a significant presence in the Permian Basin, and it maintains exploration and production activities in several international regions, including parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.